Startup mentors discuss strategies and challenges of creating a new business.

Kate Mitchell: Create a ‘Composite Mentor’

KATE MITCHELL:Mentors can be very powerful allies in your business career but perhaps not in the way they are classically portrayed. I have never had just one mentor — I have had many of them, and they form an ever-changing “Composite Mentor” for me. Many of them might even be surprised that I think of them as mentors since I don’t formally put a name to the relationship I have with them.

Before I get too far, let me explain what I mean by a composite mentor. A composite mentor is a collection of people you draw lessons from. The lessons may be very disparate. Some mentors can help you think through management challenges, others are good as a sounding board for strategic thinking, and others many add an orthogonal perspective to help you think out of the box. Some will have real depth in technology while a few will have very specific expertise like how to build a sales team.

This is just a short list, and note that I haven’t even mentioned career advice — often the classic definition of what a mentor can do for you. Tom Kosnik, a Professor at Stanford University’s Tech Venture program in the School of Engineering, uses the paradigm of a “Virtual Board of Directors” and goes so far as to include fictional characters in the mix of where he goes for advice. I gave a lecture at Stanford a few weeks ago which is where Tom and I connected on this topic. Tom’s virtual board of advisers also covers every facet of his life…a logical idea and one that I’m incorporating into my thinking.

Why is a composite mentor the best answer? First, you and your challenges are always evolving. Drawing on multiple sources allows you to zero in on the best lessons for the situation. Perhaps just as important, this approach may give you conflicting points of view, leaving it to you to sort out what is best. In conversations with my mentors, they often ask as many questions of me as I do of them (among other things because they are continuous learners, too). The very best mentors also never give me an “answer” but even better, share another way to think about the problem that I may not have seen before. What I’m left with are new tools I can use to solve future problems myself. The goal is to learn from, as opposed to being guided by, your mentors.

What isn’t part of being a composite mentor? They don’t need to have specific titles or be senior to you. As Tom Kosnik points out, you don’t even need to know them personally, particularly since a lot of us now blog and write on the topics we care about. Four of my current favorites for management advice (a topic you can never know enough about) are Reed Hastings, Dick Costolo, Duncan Niederauer, and fellow WSJ Accelerator, Brad Feld.

Last, how do you find mentors? Not by asking them to be mentors outright. Mentors are people I have developed confidence in over time. You have to try out for the position. I want to see them make decisions to see if I trust their advice. If this is someone I go to directly, I also want to know that they are not only channeling their own experience but are looking at my circumstances, too. Odd to say it this way, but my mentors have to earn a place within my composite.

Your mindset is important for your Composite Mentor to be effective. Be open. Listen to the answers, as well as the questions, from the mentors around you. Good listening is one of the hallmarks of a successful entrepreneur.

Go build your composite mentor. You probably already have one, but haven’t thought of it that way. Now go add to it!

Comments (1 of 1)

I generally agree with the use of more than one mentor. Just as there are some area where you excel (or need vast assistance with), so do mentors have similar strengths and limitations. The one boss who taught me how to write professionally was great at analyzing text and even better at correcting it. But his technical skills, while adequate for writing, were not well suited to design work. Another boss was a great salesman (and a Ph.D. engineer) who set-up programs to generate 1/3 of the engineering firm's revenue. But, in that same environment, he was not a good politician. The boss who was the best politician was weak on technical skills, but excelled in creating a great work environment for his employees. My current boss (not an engineer), nonetheless provides me with the freedom and tools to tackle non-standards projects for high-end customers -- R&D institutions and aerospace firms. Her strengths are budgeting and day-to-day operations of an aging manufacturing facility. Why not "cherry pick"?

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